The federal government has committed $200 million to Woodfibre LNG, a liquefied natural gas export facility under construction on the west side of Howe Sound, near Squamish, British Columbia. The funding was announced in Vancouver by the federal minister responsible for energy, and it adds public money to a project that has already attracted significant private investment and political debate.
Woodfibre LNG is operated by Woodfibre Management, a Vancouver-based company. It is owned 70 per cent by Pacific Energy Corporation, which is headquartered in Singapore and linked to the Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto, and 30 per cent by Enbridge, a company based in Calgary. Construction began in 2023, and operations are expected to start next year. Once running, the facility is designed to produce 2.1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year for overseas markets.
The company has described the plant as the world's first net-zero LNG export facility. It says the project's emissions intensity would be about nine times lower than the global average for LNG production. Critics dispute that claim, arguing that emissions associated with fracked gas feeding the facility are not adequately counted.
The project's approval history is also part of the story. The Squamish Nation approved the project in 2015, but attached 25 binding conditions to its consent. Among them is a ban on bunkering of LNG carriers in Howe Sound, the inlet that is central to the nation's territory and to the region's marine environment.
British Columbia's premier-designate, Lorne Doerkson, has expressed support for the project, which is scheduled to be sworn in on November 20. Doerkson has called for federal and provincial financing, tax measures and loan guarantees to back it. He has also urged that First Nations be given the chance to take equity stakes in the project, using loan guarantees to make that possible.
Opposition to the public spending has come from within the provincial legislature. Green MLA Jeremy Valeriote criticized the investment as a subsidy for the fossil fuel industry. Other critics have raised concerns about the cost of living for households in the province and about the fact that much of the return on the project would flow to foreign shareholders.
The federal investment places public funds directly alongside a privately led project whose supporters present it as a source of export revenue and a lower-emissions alternative to other LNG supply, and whose opponents question both its climate credentials and its value to British Columbians.